Developing 1D magnetocaloric inter-metallic nanostructures for environmentally friendly magnetic refrigerant cooling systems

• Grant number: 18/19096-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: March 01, 2019
• End date: April 30, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - Condensed Matter Physics
• Principal Investigator: Fanny Béron
• Grantee: Prabhakaran Thandapani
• Host Institution: Instituto de Física Gleb Wataghin (IFGW). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 17/10581-1 - Emergent phenomena in reduced dimension systems, AP.ESP

Abstract

Recently the research interest in finding a suitable alternative to the existing conventional technology and reducing the consumption of fossil fuel increases. Conventional vapor compression cooling system uses of CFC and HCFC refrigerants have introduced serious impacts on the environment. The magnetic refrigeration (MR) is a promising alternative to the conventional cooling systems and has attracted a large number of researchers due to its high energy efficiency and environmentally friendly approach. The nanostructured materials are special for MR as they have a higher magnetocaloric effect over a distribution of temperature and better cooling efficiency compared to the bulk. One-dimensional nanowires are attracting great interest due to their multifunctional properties. The dimensionality effect makes them potential candidate in various functional devices such as optical, biomedical, and electrical devices. Based on previous experiences of fellow candidate and sponsoring researcher, the ideas of dimensionality are extended for achieving highly efficient magnetic refrigerants. The present project is proposed to focus on the dimensionality effects on the bulk intermetallic single crystals for green MR applications.The methodology involved in this project is divided as follows: 1. Fabricate the MnAs1-xPx (0.01 d x d 0.1) and Mn1-xCuxCoGe (0.01 d x d 0.1) intermetallic bulk and nanowire crystals using metallic-flux nanonucleation technique. 2. Investigate the fundamental properties such as crystalline structure, morphology, elemental composition, magnetic properties at different temperature and magnetic fields, specific heat capacity and electrical resistivity measurements and 3. Compare the properties of the materials and propose the best magnetic refrigerant for the cooling applications.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

PRABHAKARAN, T.; MANGALARAJA, R. V.; BERON, F.; JIMENEZ, J. A.; DENARDIN, JULIANO C.; ARUN, T.; AKBARI-FAKHRABADI, ALI. Thermally Reduced Soft Magnetic CuFe Nanoparticles for High-Performance Electrical Devices. IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, v. 57, n. 2, FEB 2021. (17/10581-1, 18/19096-1)

THANDAPANI, PRABHAKARAN; AEPURU, RADHAMANOHAR; BERON, FANNY; VISWANATHAN, MANGALARAJA RAMALINGA; VARAPRASAD, KOKKARACHEDU; ZABOTTO, FABIO LUIS; JIMENEZ, JOSE A.; DENARDIN, JULIANO C.. Multiferroic Electroactive Polymer Blend/Ferrite Nanocomposite Flexible Films for Cooling Devices. ACS APPLIED POLYMER MATERIALS, v. 5, n. 8, p. 11-pg., 2023-07-17. (17/10581-1, 18/19096-1)